Of Bugs and ExBoyfriends
by SecretArt
Summary: See title
1. Missing

**Title: Of Bugs and Ex-Boyfriends**

**Author: Secret Art**

**Rating: Pg- for now**

**Date: 4th September 2004 **

**Category: angst, romance**

**Pairings: Grissom/Sara**

**Spoilers: none at the moment**

**Summary: read title**

**Archive: where ever you want, I'm not fussy**

**Feedback: can only make me better**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, not now, not ever.**

**Author's note: Thanks to Michelle for the idea and for convincing me that I was long overdue writing a CSI fic even if a WIP isn't exactly what she had in mind-I hope this is what you were after.**

Sara walked into the break room, not surprised to find Warrick and Nick already there, arguing over some article in what looked like a sports magazine.

She smiled to herself, walking over to the kettle, making herself a drink, barely focusing on the argument, lost in thought.

She considered this date an almost anniversary, at least to her it was a special day, he probably wouldn't remember, notice or care.

She sighed, knowing that she shouldn't be so hard on him, he had been trying to fix their relationship, get back some of the friendship they once had.

She was shaken from her thoughts by the appearance of Catherine, strolling in with a concerned look on her face.

"Have any of you seen Grissom?"

Sara put down her mug, a knot appearing in her stomach. "He's not in his office?"

"No, and I've called his house and mobile, nothing."

"Have you checked whether his car is in the car park?" Warrick asked, putting down the magazine he had been flicking through.

"Not there."

"he might be stuck in a traffic jam and his battery is dead." Nick suggested, grabbing the magazine Warrick had put down.

Catherine opened her mouth to respond but didn't have the chance as Brass rushed through the door, panting slightly.

"Grissom's missing."

"Very observant," Nick replied sarcastically, causing Warrick to elbow him.

"No, I mean really missing. His neighbours called the police after hearing a disturbance. The place has been trashed, they think he may have been kidnapped."

Sara leaned back against the counter, her hands gripping the edge as her legs threatened to cave in.

She took a few deep breaths, calming herself down before she spoke, trying to sound as normal as possible. "Are there any suspects?"

Brass shock his head. "Nothing. Dayshift are working on a triple, so I'm afraid you'll have to do it, Catherine you've been placed in charge."

Catherine took a deep breath, pleased that she had finally got a chance to be in charge, horrified at the circumstances. "If anyone doesn't want to work this case I'll understand."

She was responded by silence, the look of determination on everyone's face telling her that they would never give up.

"Where do we start?" Nick asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Brass walked further into the room. "We question friends and family."

All eyes turned to Sara, and she rolled hers. She sat down in one of the empty chairs, bracing herself for the questions.

"So, ask away," she offered, knowing that none of them wanted to be the first to speak.

They all looked towards Catherine, she didn't know whether it because she was a woman, or because she was now in charge, but the team had chosen their interviewer.

"Ok, I can do this." Catherine turned to look at Sara, feeling slightly guilty but knowing they had no choice, and anyway, there were questions that needed answers for personal reasons as well as professional. "What is your relationship with Gil Grissom?"

Sara laughed slightly. "We are colleagues, used to be friends, slowly heading back to being friends."

"Were you ever involved in a romantic relationship with him?"

"Yes." She heard gasps from around the room, and raised an eyebrow as Warrick handed money over to Nick.

"When was this?"

"Ten years ago. We met exactly ten years ago today, not that it matters. I was a student, he spoke in one of my lectures. We started as friends, somehow got into a romantic relationship. It only lasted a couple of months, we both ended up in different states and went back to being just good friends."

She could see Catherine about to ask more questions, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door, signalling the arrival of a receptionist holding a large brown envelope.

"Sara Sidle?"

"Yes?"

"This just arrived for you. It was left on the reception counter."

Sara stood up, taking the envelope with a brief "Thanks" before moving away from the group to look at it properly.

She looked at the front, on it was written only 'Sara Sidle, CSI' in handwriting that was oddly familiar to her.

Opening it, she pulled out a group of Polaroid photos, held together with a basic elastic band.

She removed the band, the knot in her stomach making her feel sick.

As she turned the photos over she gasped, letting go of them, watching as they fell to the floor in a heap.

Warrick reached out and grabbed one of the photos, his expressions unreadable as he turned to show it to the rest of the group.

It was a photograph of Grissom, gagged and bound to a chair, a gun aimed at his head.

TBC


	2. Ladybird

He woke up suddenly, panicking when he found he couldn't move, couldn't see.

He could feel something over his eyes, probably a blindfold, and the cool metal on his wrists could only be handcuffs. He could also smell gas, it was strong, close to where he was, and there was tapping, the sort made by rain on a metal roof.

He coughed, the sound echoing around what was apparently quite a large room, possibly a warehouse of some kind.

------------------------------------------

Sara picked the remainder of the photographs off the floor, going through them one at a time before passing them to Warrick.

He spread them out onto the coffee table in silence. All bar one were of Grissom, in a variety of postures, each with a different weapon or tool that could be used for killing in the photograph on or next to his body.

Nick picked up the one that wasn't of Grissom, staring at it before turning it to face the others. "It's a ladybird. 


	3. Tape

She put the phone down, her hands shaking.

"Who was that?" Catherine asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Sara collapsed into a chair, her eyes filling with tears. "It's...it's all my fault."

"What is?"

She looked down at her hands. "It was Mike, he was...he was my fiancé. We'd only been engaged for two weeks when I ended it. Lets just say Mike got jealous very easily, I broke it off when he attacked one of my classmates as we were studying, he thought I was having an affair."

"What has this got to do with Grissom?" Nick asked, looking both confused and fascinated at getting a peak into Sara, and Grissom's, past.

"Mike went away for a while, to clear his head. When he got back I'd just started a relationship with Grissom, he found out and was upset, but I never thought he was this bad."

"Why wait so long?" Warrick asked, looking at each of them in turn, all replying with a shrug.

"Didn't you mention something about an anniversary?" Catherine suggested, picking up a photo and then dropping it straight back down.

Sara nodded, "ten years since we first met."

"But still, why wait ten years? Why not five? Or fifteen?"

Everyone drifted into silence as they thought over the question, Brass moving to pick up a few of the photographs.

Sara thought back over her relationship with Mike, trying to find a clue, any indication that he had been so dangerous.

It suddenly came to her. "We were together for ten months, and if we'd gone through with the marriage today would have been our ten year anniversary."

"You met Grissom on the day you were supposed to be married?" Nick looked half shocked, half impressed.

Brass spoke up, looking at one of the photographs intently. "There's writing on the wall."

"What?"

They all grab a photograph, squinting to make out the writing.

"It's a sign of some kind."

"I know this place," Warrick tapped his photo, "it's about ten minutes from here."

They all jumped up, running out of the building and into their SUV's, Warrick leading the way.

Reaching the warehouse Sara was the first to get out the car, pulling her gun as she ran to the door.

Kicking the door down, she moved quickly, ignoring the shouts from outside and any possibilities of danger.

She could feel Grissom, so she headed in the direction that her heart was telling her, the combined smell of his and Mike's aftershaves confirming her choice of direction.

She paused outside a closed door, knowing that what she was after was just inside.

Forcing the door open she raised her gun, scanning the room quickly and finding it empty.

"Grissom?" Her voice sounded hollow, as empty as the room she was in.

She replaced her gun, slowly moving around the room as footsteps signalled the approach of the others.

She spotted a tape player, partially hidden by some fabric, and knelt down beside it.

Picking up the fabric she identified it as Grissom's coat. She used the sleeves of the coat to press the play button, her CSI training preventing her contaminating anymore evidence.

She heard the rest of the team enter as the tape started.

"Hey Sara, I figured that if you are anywhere near as good as you are supposed to be then you'll find this place quite quickly. Me and my new friend have moved, bit like a ten step plan, each step takes you closer to the ultimate goal. Your probably wondering what I'm talking about, you never did understand me anyway, but there was a list of twelve things, gifts I suppose, that I was going to give you before we got married, now they'll count down to his death.

"The photographs were gift one, you'll get gift two tomorrow. Oh, and if you even think of trying to stop me, I will kill anyone in my way, including you."

She held her breath as she heard Grissom scream her name in the background, the noise causing a sob to catch in her throat.

"See you later baby girl." The tape stopped, leaving the room in shocked silence.


	4. Dragonfly

-  
She paced around the break room, completely exhausted yet too nervous to sleep, waiting anxiously for the post to arrive, needing to know what her next 'gift' was.  
  
The rest of the team were dotted around the room, Nick and Warrick attempting to play cards, Catherine flicking through a romance novel, barely taking in any of it whilst Brass was looking through the photographs, needing to keep himself busy.  
  
They all turned as the receptionist approached, a plain white envelope in hand.  
Sara moved to take it, finding once again only her name written on the front.  
Slowly opening it, she tipped it up, a small pendant dropping out.  
  
Picking it up she turned it over in her hands, showing it to the others. "It's a dragonfly."  
  
"And the significance of that is?" Brass sounded almost annoyed, silently wishing that it could be like on the TV, where searching for a kidnapper involved running around and shooting people, not waiting for cryptic clues from crazy ex-fiancés.  
  
Sara looked at the pendant, thinking hard. "I honestly don't know, it doesn't remind me of anything."  
  
"There is always the Dragonfly club." Catherine added.  
  
"Isn't that a strip club?" Warrick asked, leaning back in his chair, interested to see what her response was.  
  
"Yes, it is. " She glared at him, refusing to give any more details. "But unless anyone can think of anything else it's the only lead we have."  
  
Nick looked around as everyone nodded. "Dragonfly could be a helicopter?"  
  
"It's also the symbol of birth, or in this case possibly re-birth." Sara turned it over in her hand. "He already said that he's going to kill Grissom, maybe he thinks of it as the only way he can start over, what if he wants me back?" She looked up, scared.  
  
"We won't let that happen." Brass smiled kindly at her, reassuring her slightly.  
  
"Never going to happen." Warrick added, trying to sound more confident than he was.  
"Ok, Nick, you and Sara stay here, see if you can come up with anything new seeing as you both know so much about dragonflies. Warrick, we're going to the club."  
  
Catherine ordered, grinning slightly at Nick's annoyed look, sometimes being in power had it's perks.  
  
Nick and Sara watched as they left, Sara collapsing into a chair, pulling out the necklace she had hidden under her top, Nick watching in shock as she revealed a pendant identical to the one in her hand.  
  
"Sara?"  
  
"It was a present."  
  
He sat down next to her, "who from?"  
  
"My best friend, or she was before she killed herself. We had a fight, over a boy of all things, didn't speak to each other for years. When we did make up we bought each other a dragonfly pendant, a symbol of the re-birth of our relationship." Sara chocked back a sob as she remembered. "She wasn't wearing her necklace when they found her…body, they never found it. I could never understand why, she'd been wearing it the last time I saw her."  
  
"Are you thinking that he…Mike…might have been responsible?"  
  
She took a deep breath, "There was never an investigation, it looked like suicide and there was even a note, so they said there didn't need to be an investigation."  
  
He rested his hand on her shoulder, "I need to call Catherine, tell her."  
  
She nodded, lost in memories as he walked out of the room, watching her through the window as he called Catherine.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey Catherine, it's Nick."  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Sara just showed me her necklace, it's the same as the one she was sent. Apparently it was her best friends…and get this, she killed herself, but there was no investigation as there was a suicide note."  
  
He heard Catherine sigh over the phone. "If this guy has killed before, he's less likely to have any concern over killing Grissom."  
  
Nick watched Sara for a few seconds as she played with her necklace. " We have to get him back."  
  
"I know." 


End file.
